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In a way, his reverting to being “the good son” and making up for the effects their behavior had had on their parents in the ensuing years felt like repaying a debt. Adrian’s distant coolness had hurt their mother, while Alejandro’s misadventures had infuriated their father. Antonio’s warm relationship with his motherand his respectable reputation had eased his parents’ pain and taken the burden off his brothers. It had also felt justly like punishment. Why should he get to enjoy life when he’d nearly taken someone else’s?
But apparently his body was tired of being the good son because right now the faint floral scent emanating from Anna’s lush hair had him imagining her sprawled across the silk sheet of the Presidential Suite, her dark tendrils spread across a pillow as he slid the gold gown off her body.
“Tell me,” he said again, managing to keep his voice even, “what do you see? What’s it like to see the most famous fountain in the world for the first time?”
She watched him for a moment, eyes narrowed. Suspicion rolled off her in thick, palpable waves. He stared right back. He’d faced down furious hotel owners, greedy executives and, earlier in the summer, a very angry supermodel who couldn’t understand why going through his phone would result in him sending her away from the Caribbean resort he’d whisked her to. He could most certainly face down his former best friend and, hopefully, yank her out of her melancholy state. It was the least he could do.
Although, the longer she stared at him, those colorful eyes glittering in the evening light, the more he wondered if he’d made a mistake. Anna had always seen what others hadn’t. The hurt of Alejandro’s absence. His anger at his father for taking away his brother. The helplessness at being unable to solve his mother’s pain over Adrian’s coldness.
What did she see now?
Finally, she turned away and faced the fountain. As the water splashed and the lights illuminated the centuries-old architecture, her shoulders relaxed.
“It’s incredible.”
She uttered the words in a breathy, sensuous voice.Damn it. But he’d started this game, goaded her into spinning a story just like she had when they’d traipsed around the Granada estate. A leaf carried on the wind had become a vessel carrying fairies to the nearby woods. A scuff mark in the dirt had been the result of a goblin being spooked from napping in the vineyards. Anna had lived in a world of make-believe. As a child, he’d found it enchanting. As a young man, it had been one of the many reasons that had convinced him that Anna was off-limits. She’d been so young, so sweet in her dreamy-eyed innocence.
“I can imagine all the people who have come here over the years,” she continued, her eyes wide as she visually feasted on the sight before her. “Lovers in the eighteenth century stealing out at night to toss a coin in the fountain and share a kiss. A mother praying her son would come home from a war. An old man paying homage to his late wife.” Her lips turned up into the first true smile he’d seen. “Remember all the fairy tales I read as a child? Perhaps at night the statues come to life and the horses gallop across the water.” Her laugh electrified him, as bubbly as the water cascading down into the pool. “If I close my eyes, I can hear them.” She turned to look at him and, upon meeting his stare, froze. Pink tinted her cheeks and she lowered her eyes, as if embarrassed. “Sorry. Probably not what a travel connoisseur like yourself would put in a guidebook.”
He’d wanted to hear the old Anna. Be reminded of some of the happiest times of his life while also being reminded that this wasAnna. Fashion designer, model, or whatever she’d become, she was an old friend, not a woman to be lusted after.
Unfortunately, as she’d spoken, he’d realized that while the old Anna who found magic in a sunset still existed, she’d grown up. Grown up and mixed that intoxicating magic with confidence that wove a spell so tight he could barely take a breath.
“You’d be surprised,” he found himself saying. “Not what I’d put in a guidebook,” he added with the slightest hint of a smile, “but an Instagram post or a review to share with our guests? Absolutely.”
Her face lit up with joy once more as she grinned.
“Maybe I can translate telling tall tales into a career if my designs don’t take off.” She nodded in the direction of the hotel. “Kess’s first time producing and the first time my designs have been on a runway.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing since you moved to Paris? Designing?”
She nodded. “Not much success. Yet.”
The desire to ask about the magazine article lingered on the tip of his tongue. When he’d read Leo White’s description of Anna—The niece of the Cabreras’ long-time butler, an aspiring fashion designer with a love of fairy tales who’s saving herself for her Prince Charming—he’d been livid at such a private detail being aired to the world and...shocked. Intrigued. A tendril of lust he’d squelched as quickly as it had appeared.
“Who is Kess?” he asked. A much safer topic of conversation.
Anna gestured toward the far side of the fountain, where a tall black woman in a blue sundress stood chatting on the phone, although her gaze was trained on him and Anna. Even at this distance, he recognized the photos his private investigator had delivered in a thick folder, part of the dossier he’d put together.
“Kess Abiola?”
“Yes. We went to school together in Granada. Kind of cool knowing someone who actually made it in the industry and got hired by a big firm like Hampton. This is her first show, but she’ll be booking big names within the year.”
Antonio bit back a smile. Anna had always been a loyal friend. The pride for Kess rang strong in her voice.
“Although,” she added, the brief sparkle of her expression dimming, “I guess you’re probably used to rubbing elbows with the rich and famous.”
“Alejandro, as you know, was much more drawn to supermodels and actresses and heiresses than I was.”
“I saw he’s engaged.” Anna shuddered. “Hard to imagine the boy who put peanut butter in my sneakers and a fake spider in my coat pocket having a wife.”
“Would you believe he’s marrying a woman who’s a straitlaced rule follower?”
Anna laughed, a sound that was as cheerful as it was deep and rich.
“I think I met her, actually, at Adrian and Everleigh’s engagement party. She was very kind to me. And Adrian is married now, and expecting.” Anna smiled. “Your mother must be thrilled.”
“She is.” Although the last time he’d seen his mother, just before journeying to Rome, she’d been unusually pensive for a woman who had gained two daughters-in-law who seemed to adore her.
